Al Mohannad Ali, a freshman petroleum engineering major from Saudi Arabia at Texas Tech University, knows how tough it is to be a Saudi Arabian student in Texas in the era of Osama bin Laden.

“We are from a different culture, so you can expect us to be different,” said Ali, president of the university’s Saudi Student Association. “It doesn’t mean we’re dangerous (or that) we’re bad people.”

But a lot of Americans think it does. And the level of suspicion grew even more after the Feb. 23 arrest of a Saudi student in Lubbock, Texas, Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., has introduced legislation that aims to end student visa program abuse by potential terrorists by significantly tightening reporting requirements for students and universities alike. Teaming up with Bilirakis are two Texas Republicans, Reps. Ted Poe and Michael McCaul.

Rick Perry can now be officially taken seriously as a presidential candidate. The official blog monitoring the alleged “Bilderberg Conspiracy” to destroy American sovereignty and create a one world government has decided that our very own Texas governor is the anointed candidate of those evil globalists.

Indeed, mark your calendars for June 9. That’s the beginning of the secret Swiss confab that will officially tab Perry to be Bilderberg’s secret choice to lead the USofA, AmericanFreePress.net declares.

Legislation by Sunshine law advocate Sen. John Cornyn to reduce processing delays in Freedom of Information Act requests passed the Senate unanimously. Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy are the Senate’s leading advocates of government transparency.
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In a video bashing their Democrat counterparts for being out-of-touch on energy and without-a-plan for rising oil prices, House Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of keeping America’s energy resources under “lock and key.”
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Shortly after engaging in a very public tiff with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the presumed (albeit unannounced) front-runner in the race, the Houston state senator and conservative talk-show host told Houston Chronicle Austin correspondent Patti Kilday Hart that he decided last weekend to form an exploratory committee for a run for the U.S. Senate because “we need a conservative who will not cower to Democrats and moderate Republicans.”

The only Democratic-drawn congressional redistricting map to see the light of the day so far will never make it through a GOP-dominated Texas Legislature, its author conceded Thursday, although he maintains that it might stand a better chance of becoming law through the actions of the Voting Rights section of the U.S. Justice Department and the courts.

State Rep. Marc Veasey, a Forth Worth Democrat who serves on the House Redistricting Committee, labels his redistricting map a “fair Texas plan.” His plan preserves the 11 current minority-opportunity districts among the state’s 32 and adds two new Hispanic-opportunity districts and one additional African American district.

Late yesterday, the Texas governor — who has repeatedly insisted that he is not running for president — received an endorsement from the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas. A presidential endorsement.

“Although the governor has not officially entered the race for president we hope our endorsement will encourage him to do so,” said state Rep. Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg.